Deities of Dran, Part 1

Bil is the Goddess of the Sun and War worshiped by the Humans on the continent of Dran. She typically appears as a human woman, one who is divinely beautiful with fair skin, long, swirling bright red hair, and eyes the color of black opals. She is very tall and of hearty build, and often seems stern or angry. She usually wears worn, ragged clothing dyed red-violet and yellow-green, often with a breastplate and a helm for protection. Her favored weapon is the mace.

The symbol of her power is a stylized sun image: the orb of the sun appears as an unblinking, ever-vigilant eye with radiating sunbeams (signifying power) encircling the orb. On either side of the sun image are wings, representing Bil’s strength and speed.

In addition to the Sun and War, she is also associated with arrogance, valour, and mountains. Her typical follower is generally quite youthful; most of her followers fall away from her worship as they mature and grow older. Her few followers can be primarily distinguished by their daily prayers. These prayers are often chanted to the accompanying sound of a mace striking a surface (usually a resonant surface). There are many shrines to her on lonely mountain roads to bring courage and strength to random wanderers. Her largest actual temple structure is in the city of Coldtreath.

Because of her love of war, she has occasionally been known to appear in person to great mortal leaders with the intent of misleading them and bringing about large-scale conflicts. Clerics and paladins who worship and act for Bil come from every walk of life and from nearly almost every alignment. However, those who most often seek out Bil are those who love war and conflict; while she herself is Chaotic Neutral, many of her followers tend to be some shade of evil.

Rival Adventuring Party: The Stumble Hollow Trine, Part 1

Lord Alotharo of Peravene

Lord Alotharo is the leader of the Stumble Hollow Trine. A nobleman by birth, he was born into minor nobility in the country of Peravene, a small mountainous region to the east of the Feylcrest Sea, far inland.

Lord Alotharo is a blowhard, plain and simple. Most of Peravene’s citizens are imbued with a annoying sense of natural superiority in all things. One former dwarven associate said of him: “Most Peravenites think they’re Anyvoal’s gift to the world, and Alotharo is no different.” He is almost always dismissive of any person not from Peravene; the only exceptions are those who are of a social status above his and those who have saved his life. He is truly a sucker for perceived bravery.

Alotharo is likely not as bad as the rest of the mercenaries that fill the region around Coldtreath these days, but it’s only because he’s too stupid. He’s certainly no saint: he’s out for himself and his own coin purse. Alotharo is far too trusting and ready to believe what he is told. Because he is always on the watch for a new business proposition, he can be taken advantage of quite easily. The rest of the Stumble Hollow Trine, therefore, consider it part of their job–and protection of their livelihood–to monitor carefully everyone that approaches Alotharo.

He fancies himself a discerning lover of fine food, drink, and art. In reality he lacks functioning tastebuds, he can barely discern between vinegar and wine, and could not identify a work of a master if it were signed and handed to him personally by the artist. He is free and ready to offer an opinion, which are typically the worst sort of popular tripe. He is quick with his purse, especially where objects of art and artifacts are involved. However, he has been known to purchase cartloads of reproductions and trash just because he was led to believe a priceless work of antiquity was included.

He is known for his rare toothy grin and his all-too common sneer, as well as for his hands’ incessant fluttering when he is nervous. Alotharo is quite short, barely taller than the average dwarf, and is nearly as wide as he is tall. For all his mass, Alotharo is actually quite quick on his feet; many a foe has been taken by surprise at his speed and relative agility. Unruly shocks of brown hair burst wildly from the sides of an otherwise bald head and pale green eyes squint out from his florid face. A large wart stands guard over his brow. Taken all in all, he is not attractive by any stretch of the imagination, although he believes himself to be quite handsome.

He is also known for his quick, unreasonable anger and the two long, thin daggers he carries with him at all times. While his favorite sin is lust, his favorite hobby seems to be brawling. Of course, he is rarely in serious danger because his henchmen and fellow members of the Stumble Hollow Trine are always there to pull him out of scrapes.

=======================
Alotharo of Peravene
Human
Aristocrat 5 / Rogue 5
HP: 50
Init.: +2
Speed: 30 ft.
AC:15, Touch 12, flat-footed 13 (Leather)
Base Attack: +6
Grapple: +9
Attack: Dagger (+11) 1d4+4 Crit (19-20) x2
Full Attack: Dagger (+9/4) 1d4+4; Dagger (+8) 1d4+4 Crit (19-20) x2
Alignment: CN
Special Abilities: Evasion; Trapfinding; Trap Sense; Uncanny Dodge
Special Attacks: Sneak Attack
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +5
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 10, Chr 11
Skills: Appraise 7, Bluff 7, Climb 3, Diplomacy 6, Disguise 6, Escape Artist 2, Forgery 2, Gather Information 10, Hide 2, Intimidate 9, Jump 3, Knowledge (Dungeon) 6, Knowledge (Geography) 6, Listen 6, Move Silently 8, Ride 2, Search 5, Sense Motive 6, Spot 6, Survival 6, Swim 5, Tumble 6
Feats: Deceitful; Evasion; Heavy Armor Proficiency; Light Armor Proficiency; Martial Weapon Proficiency; Medium Armor Proficiency; Shield Proficiency; Simple Weapon Proficiency; Skill Focus (Gather Info); Tower Shield Proficiency; Two-Weapon Defense; Two-Weapon Fighting; Weapon Focus (dagger);
Languages: Common

CR 9
(XP: 6400)

OTHER ITEMS
Dagger +1 defending
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
Potion of Displacement
Potion of Invisibility

**Many thanks to WotC's "PC Portraits" Archive for the image.

Canadian Visitors

It's that time of year again, when I send a shout-out to my readers.

If you're reading this site, and you're from Canada, Poland, Australia, the UK, or anywhere else around the world, please drop me a note. I'd love to hear from you. I like to see that my meager scribblings are being enjoyed outside of the lower 48 states. It makes me feel like a blogging version of Phileas Fogg.

Now, don't let that make you think that I don't want to hear from the States. I love hearing from fellow statesiders as well.

Heck, I love hearing from ANYONE.

Look... the comment button is right down here.

Rival Adventuring Parties

James over at Grognardia had a post this morning questioning both the apparent loss of the Rival Adventuring Party (hereafter "RAP") in D&D as well as the amount of information required by a DM to utilize said RAP.

His post got me to thinking. I'm in the camp that likes to have these NPCs mapped out and statted as much as possible. I find it's easier to have a pool of random information to draw on rather than try and come up with it on the fly.

In other words, I like to consider myself a sandbox DM, but a prepared sandbox DM. Let me explain; no, that will take too long...let me sum up. I have a large binder for each of my sandbox games: those big hefty 3"+ binders. Each one is filled with lists of NPCs, descriptions of people, places, things. Random treasure. Maps. Things like this. These binders are constantly expanding as the campaign progresses; if I find something I like or something I need, it goes in there. Each binder is tabbed and organized in what I call a "chaotic anal-retentive style." Included among these binders are several pre-prepared NPC RAPs. I even have separate thumb drives for each campaign; much of the information in the corresponding binder is duplicated in digital form on the drives. This is not only for backup, but also ease of use.

My groups largely use a program called DMGenie. It was the best 3.5 electronic support we found years ago; sadly it's now all but defunct. Fortunately, we have enough coding knowledge among the groups that we can still make it work for our uses. Each of my thumb drives has an NPC file for each of my NPCs, monsters, and yes, the RAPs, just so that they can be quickly plugged in to the program and included in an encounter when needed.

Again: it's partly my own anal-retentive nature that requires this level of preparation. But my DM-style also dictates that I have this information and my players expect a certain level of detail. It may not be completely spontaneous, but it comes as close as I am comfortable. Don't get me wrong: I still love and use the random tables. I just like to have some details already mapped out for me and ready for use when called upon. I find that it honestly takes very little extra preparation time; it's something I can do while the television is on or while waiting for my wife to finish shopping. It certainly feels better filling time this way when compared to the pressure of having six player stare at you while you try and create an NPC's description on the fly (and then try and remember what you said so that it can go in your DM's campaign notebook).

For the next week or so, I'm going to dig into my files and share a few of these individuals with you.

[review] Loviatar #13

I had an interesting day yesterday. Had to travel an hour north to a neighboring city for a court hearing that lasted less than 2 minutes. Then I was able to have lunch with my wife and two of our friends who happen to be NY Times Bestselling authors. (I don't have their permission to share stories and I don't want to drop any names.)

Then it was off to the podiatrist for a check-up on my second matrixectomy. (About a month ago I had an ingrown toenail partially removed. Then I learned the hard way that I'm in the 5% group that the healing process heals around a pocket of infection. Then I learned that I'm also the 1-in-20 that has the removed portion of the nail actually start to grow back. So I had to go a second time to have it removed. My doctor says that we treated it "aggressively" this time. It's meant much more pain, but he says it's healing nicely.)

And then I got home and found something in the mail that made the poking and prodding worth it all: Loviatar #13 and the latest edition of "A Letter from Los Angeles." Aside from the joy of receiving something other than bills in the mailbox, I now had something I could peruse while putting my feet up (literally) and recuperating from my day.

For those of you who haven't yet checked out Loviatar.... Really? Put aside the fact that this 'zine is why Mr. Christian Walker has been (arguably) responsible for the recent resurgence of the gaming 'zine. Put aside that the material inside each issue is geared toward numerous different game systems and usable in many more. Put aside the excellent artwork by Mr. Jay Penn. Put all of that aside for a moment:

Loviatar is just plain good. And old-fashioned good. It brings back a lot of memories to me from the 1980s.

Issue #13 is no difference. I will not pretend to say that I will ever have a chance to run a Lords of Creation game. Christian admits that the decision to write Lords of Creation material may be based upon a post-surgical drug-induced haze. But he still makes it work. There's humor: Kevin Sorbo surrounded by Amazons out-of-time; Jim Brass from CSI; and an alternate-Earth Mona Lisa hanging on the wall watching over the described festivities. While I'm also not likely to run a modern game any time soon, there's still plenty of material here that will feed into descriptions of a good D&D NPC.

(Case in point: I'm right now imagining an NPC bard who has made a name for himself "speaking for the Elven Gods" who finds himself surrounded in a tavern by a gaggle of Elves just waiting for him to say or do something they find blasphemous. Enter PCs. Hilarity ensues.)

In short, I'd highly recommend snagging a copy while they're hot, fresh, and available.

I'd also suggest checking out Christian's newest endeavor "A Letter from Los Angeles." This newsletter is also chock-full of gaming goodness and the fact that it's nearly all hand-written just adds to its uniqueness. This latest issue has a map on the back of a seemingly-deserted street from which your character or characters are attacked by an invisible assailant with questionable motives. Each of the newsletters have improved upon the previous ones and this one is no different. I keep waiting for the man to reach a plateau, but he just keeps getting better and better.

I should point out too that I am not receiving payment or reimbursement of any kind from Christan, other than the simple hope of continuing to receive his gaming materials in the mail.

What are you waiting for?! Go. Subscribe. Pick up copies now! For the money, it's gaming goodness at a terrific price!

Secret Santicore 2012

You better watch out...
You better not cry...
You better not pout...
I'm telling you why...
Because Santicore will come and eat you if you do.

Have you ever had one of those days when you realize that you've forgotten something very important? Something that you've intended to do for several days but keep putting off because "something else comes up" before you can get to it? Something that could mean the continued existence of life itself as we understand it?

OK, maybe it's not THAT serious, but still....

Jez over at Giblet Blizzard has announced the 2012 edition of "Secret Santicore"!! Actually, that happened late last week. I meant to pass along the news immediately...I really did. And then, what with one thing and another....

I know some of you may not know what "Secret Santicore" entails, so here it is in Jez's words:

Everybody who wants in click on the link below and fill out their request for some specific brand new campaign material--a new race, a location, a one-shot adventure outline, a random table, whatever. The idea is to be as specific as you need to be, but not too greedy (ask for a page or two of material).

Then I'll mix all the requests up and send them back out to the people who entered. Everybody gets the requests that weekend of the 14th-16th, and then they have two weeks til midnight Sunday 30th September to write up something matching the request and email it back to me.

Last year's yielded some GREAT material. I had the privilege of helping Jez by proofreading the compilation; I got a sneak peek at the stuff and was floored by the quality. I'm looking forward to this year's version with bated breath.

So...what do you do? Well, as you can see from the above instructions, you only have until THIS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012 to enter your requests. Follow this link to the 2012 Santicore Page adn read the full instructions and guidelines, then follow the link you find there to the request form. ALL REQUESTS MUST BE MADE USING THIS FORM. Then just sit back and wait for your Secret Santicore assignment, and get ready to receive your gift in return. That's all there is to it.

So what are you waiting for?! Get busy wrapping!

(By the way, for those of you who haven't picked up your updated copy of the 2011 Secret Santicore, you can find it here.)

Monster Mondays on the Horizon

Sigh. My life is busy.

I keep doing it to myself, I suppose. I just don't know when to say "Stop." After all, besides all the chaos in my personal and professional life right now, I'm an active gamer, an active DM, an aspiring writer (aren't we all), and I'm looking at editing several projects for others in the OSR (including the 2012 Secret Santicore I mentioned yesterday).

Well, I'm adding one more thing to that mix. A bloghop; specifically: Tim Brannan's Monstrous Monday October.

Here's the gist: Tim got to counting the Mondays, etc. in the month of October. (That would be FIVE Mondays, by the way.) Then he got thinking that maybe he should post up a new monster on each of those Mondays for all his readers to enjoy. And then, generous soul that he is, he thought that he would share the opportunity with the rest of the blogosphere as well!

Here's the rules:

1. Sign up on his site
   
2. Grab a button and link back to his site
3. Post your Monster on Monday October 29th 2012!

As far as content? Here's what Tim suggests: "What kind of Monster? Well that is up to you really. I am going to be posting Monster stats. You can do that, or post a monster you like/love/hate, or tell us about the monster in your new book coming out. Anything would be great really."

Now, he's going to go ahead and use each Monday in October as Monstrous Monday. The only "required" date of participation is 10/29/2012. I, however, think I will take the opportunity to do the same as Tim: each Monday in October here at the Stronghold will be Monstrous Monday. And I'm sending out the call to all of you: come on and jump in... the Ooze is fine!

Community Geomorphs Still Alive!

You may remember me talking about the Community Geomorph Project a few posts back, here and here. Well, Richard's emerged from the August doldrums that we all were feeling (at least, speaking for myself) and has stoked the geomorph flame. The project is still alive and well and back on course. I'd urge any and all of my readers to jump over and participate. Not only is it a good project, but as Richard says, it could be some good free advertising for one's blog once the project sees print.

I'm sure Richard's dreading this: I've got some more submissions to send over and some more ideas in my head. C'mon and join me, will you?

Here's my latest offerings to the cause:

[new spell] Partial Invisibility

"Umm...Shiloru.... I do not mean to pry, but where in the name of The Stone is your right arm?" The dwarf asked with concern, stepping out of the darkness at the sound of his associate's approach. "I am fairly certain you had it when you left camp for the Baron's manor."

"Fear not, dear Alakin." The halfling reached up and patted her friend's face with her left hand. "'Tis but a wee spell I cast on myself. It enabled me to walk away from the Baron's house with this." With a flourish, Shiloru pirouetted, and her arm suddenly reappeared--her arm and a priceless ceramic vase grasped in her hand. "The Baron never knew what happened; he never saw a thing. Other than the crippled, one-armed halfling begging in his courtyard, that is." Shiloru mopped her brow with a handkerchief. "It still took a bit out of me, but 'twill be worth it when our benefactor sees this on his own table."

==========================
Invisibility, Partial

Illusion (Glamer)
Level: Brd 3, Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal or touch
Target: You or a creature or object weighing no more than 100 lb./level
Duration: 1 min./level (see text)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

This spell functions like greater invisibility, except that it applies only to a single limb, extremity, body part, or item per casting. The effected limb, extremity, body part, or item must be declared at casting and cannot be changed until the dissolution of the spell. Because the spell’s effect is so precise, if the spell is used at range then the caster must make a Concentration check each round to continue the effect. Should the caster fail a single Concentration roll, the spell does not end. Instead, the effected object merely flickers, similar to a blur effect for that round and back into invisibility the next round, assuming the subsequent Concentration check succeeds. Should the caster fail two consecutive Concentration checks, the spell ends and the effected body part returns to visibility.

If the caster uses the spell as a touch spell, he must make a successful touch attack. No Concentration check is necessary if used as a personal spell or touch spell. The spell simply expires at the end of its normal duration.

Items dropped or set down from an effected body part become visible; any object held or carried by the body part at the time of casting becomes invisible. Any mundane and unattended item upon which the spell is cast or which is picked up, held, or carried by the limb or body part after casting is not afforded a Will save and becomes invisible. Any magical item receives a Will save. Any part of an object that the subject carries in the effected body part but that extends more than 10 feet from the subject becomes visible.

As with greater invisibility any attack with the invisible body part or an item held in the invisible body part does not cause the spell to end.

**Many thanks to my buddy Simonathi Starym for a bit of game testing, advice, and tweaking.

Temporary Insanity

Everyone take a SAN check. Zoltar, King of the Wicker People has apparently seized control of The Stronghold.

Something's going on with my posts. I just had one of my new posts disappear from view, even though it's still showing on my blog roll.

Dang Blogger.

We hope shortly to return you to your reading pleasure. Do not panic. Do not take rash actions.

The Wicker Overlord thanks you for your patience.

[review] Pathfinder Comics Issue #1

Back in the day, I was obsessed with and addicted to comic books. In the early 70s, my brother gave me a huge collection of early Spidey comics that he had built up. From there, I became a constant fixture at our local FLCS (Friendly Local Comics Store) from junior high through my undergraduate years. I loved me some Marvel, but there was the occasional DC mixed in. My monthly holds cost me more than I was earning, first from allowance and then from my job. Monthlies? Graphic novels? It didn't matter; I didn't discriminate. I have boxes and boxes in my basement office right now.

And then I got married.

While my wife loves her Geek, she didn't appreciate the expense of comics. So I gave it up, nearly cold turkey. Yeah, I still picked up the occasional random issue, but NOTHING on the scale of what I had once been. I had convinced myself that there really wasn't a reason to pick up ongoing monthly issues, not when the story was never resolved in a month. Plus, they seemed to becoming less about the story and more about advertising...besides, I could always pick up a bound collection next year, right?

So when Paizo announced the production of their new Pathfinder comic book, I wasn't overly excited. It barely registered as anything other than "another publication on the FLGS Pathfinder shelf." I certainly didn't look at the details.

I should have.

My FLGS has a "preferred customer" punch card: you get a punch for every $10 you spend, and with $10 punches you get $10 off any item. So...last week, I was perusing that stacks looking for something with which to get a $10 punch. I found (as I said yesterday) a copy of the WotC module from 2000: The Forge of Fury. Problem: it was only $7. So I need to find something else to make $10 in order to get a free punch. Minis were out, because where I was vacationing I didn't have access to my paints. Dice were out, because I had already picked over the dice sets they had in stock and the inexpensive ones were not calling to me. And then I turned the corner and found the last copy of the comic book.

Fate.

At only $4, it was the perfect padding to my purchase.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot; I never saw a lot of value in WotC's attempts to "comic-ize" their iconic characters. I just didn't enjoy them. Little did I know; remember: I hadn't read anything about what to expect inside. There was some folded poster in the center--from what I could see of it, the image was the same as on the front of one of the Pathfinder tomes. I left it folded up and tossed it aside, unexamined.

First off, the story: it was a pretty tame "intro" story. It's weak and contrived, but aren't all "Issue #1" stories? You got a bit of insight into the interactions between the characters. There was a little combat, a little repartee. I admit that I was not enthusiastic at this point. While the art was pretty good, there were some small continuity problems in that I had to go back to a previous page to determine if two images were actually the same character. As for the story line, it seemed to take for granted that a reader knew what Pathfinders were, who the iconic characters were, and that the reader already had a little background. But it was an OK attempt at a "Issue #1" comic story--I've certainly read worse in my day.

Then I got to the middle of the book and found the tagline: "CONTINUED." I started to fume. Really?!? Only half the freaking book is story?!? WHAT A FREAKING WASTE!!

And then I turned the page, looking for the self-stroking "Coming soon in our other comics" pages.

Instead I found a write-up of the village of Sandpoint, including game stats and interesting NPCs. I got a little bit excited at this point. As I kept turning the pages I saw game stats and backgrounds for a couple of the iconic characters introduced in the comic, which made them perfect NPCs for my game. And then I came to a mini-adventure, a game version of an encounter described (or foreshadowed) in the comic.

And then a little light went on in my brain and I thought, "What if....?" I reached for the discarded, still-folded poster. I began to unfold and, yes, my initial guess was right: it was the cover of the Core Rulebook. And then I flipped it over.

Holy cow, the comic not only comes with a story, game information, NPCs, and a mini-adventure.... It also comes with a map. A FREAKING MAP.

I love maps. But you know that.

As I told my wife: how do you pack this much entertainment and game material into $4? You don't. At least, WotC doesn't. This, to me, shows Paizo's smarts yet again. They're offering the entertainment of the comic story as well as game material. The only thing they didn't do is include a special edition polyhedral die.

I'm impressed. And subscribing.

Like I said, I have some issues with the art style and the story-telling style. But to get this kind of value at only $4? You can't miss.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Reborn...with Miniatures!

Well, I'm back at the office today after a well-deserved and well-used ten days off. Those days were spent in a borrowed cabin up in the mountains, away from the cell phone and internet, and spent lying around, watching movies, and sitting in a hot tub while watching the kids swim in the pool.

I fully intended to get some gaming done with the kids, but whoops! Time just zoomed by, so that didn't happen.

I did have the time to peruse a couple new items to my collection. The first was the first issue of the Pathfinder comic book. Review coming soon on that one.

The second was an old 3.x module I picked up second-hand and cheap: The Forge of Fury. I don't know why I never picked this one up before. It didn't even sound familiar, but was apparently published in 2000. Hmm... I had to pick it up, though, because my kids are almost at 3d-level. Also: abandoned Dwarven stronghold? Hello? Is there really a question here? Seriously, I needed a good module to throw at my kids, a proven product. I've started another page here at the Stronghold for the game reports (also a way to review the module as we go).

But now I'm back to the grind. A bit refreshed, but also a bit under the weather. I suppose that's what I get for enjoying myself too much. The only highlight of being back is the fact that I have a truly wonderful, understanding wife.

"Why?" I hear you ask.... Well, for my birthday she "dragged" me to the FLGS, pulled out some cash that she had saved up, and allowed me to purchase an entire brick of the new Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder minis...as well as the Gargantuan Runegiant miniature. Needless to say, she bought a lot of goodwill and "honey-dos" with that gift.

The unboxing was a blast, although I'm quickly approaching the point at which my miniature storage needs to expand somehow. There were quite a few points at which I confess I squealed like a little girl when I opened a booster, particularly when I encountered the Warchief Ripnugget. He was one of the rare figures that I've wanted ever since the previews from Paizo. True, I've heard others express a reserved appreciation for this figure...saying that it's a great looking piece, but "how often will I need a goblin on a gecko?" Excuse me? My answer: I now have a great cavalry officer to LEAD my goblin attacks from now on. I'm going to LOOK for an opportunity to place this guy on the field. In fact, I may have to seek out a few more singles of this miniature, just so I can field a cavalry force.

Anyway: reviews of some of the other afore-mentioned products coming soon, I hope. I have to live through this infection first.

Ugh.

Anyone in the party have a spare Potion of cure moderate wounds they can spare?

Character Punishment.

I've been staring at a blank post page for over an hour now.

Yeah. That's what my life is like right now. There's a lot of stuff that's hit--personally and professionally--in the past couple weeks and gaming, unfortunately, has taken the back seat. We're talking rumble seat, here. I've barely had a chance to meet my financial obligations to a couple of OSR friends' products, products I haven't had an opportunity to read because of those aforementioned concerns.

Writing and creating has been squelched nearly completely.

But, figuring on vacation upcoming where I'll have severely limited access to the internet, I figured I have to get a post down somehow about something to prove I'm still alive.

Hence the hour-long staring contest with the blank screen.

Sigh.

So I go to thinking about the only gaming I've been able to do: a PBEM solo game with one of my long-time gaming buddies. And by "gaming" I mean "stolen moments here and there when my paralegals leave me alone long enough between document drafts where I can roll a die and tell my buddy what's just happened to him." And by "PBEM" I really mean Yahoo! Messenger. It's choppy and can be slow and frustrating, but hey...it's still gaming.

So, at the risk of boring some all of you, let me tell you where we are and what we're doing with this solo game. Trust me, it has some bearing on the title of this blog entry: Character punishment.

As some of you may remember from a couple posts back in October of last year, our long-time gaming group picked up out original characters, rebuilt them for "Epic" use (meaning post-20th level and certainly NOT using the Epic Level Handbook) and went off on a "last" adventure to tie up some loose ends from some 10 years ago. At the end of some well-scripted encounters, the group found itself circled around an unconscious female NPC that had caused us no small amount of grief and pain in the several iterations of our original campaign: she had been welcomed into our party when, unknowingly, she was our red dragon nemesis in disguise. Make the assumptions that you want about the trouble she caused--you're probably 90% correct. She was so much trouble that the miniature the DM used for her was permanently cursed. He tried to use it in a different campaign and we all reacted so poorly to the miniature (with distrust, hatred, and anger) that he literally had to retire the miniature.

So we had angst toward the NPC.

And found ourselves surrounding her unconscious body.

And my friend "D", the elven Rogue...cut her head off.

Well, the DM didn't appreciate that all too much. He stopped short of calling for an alignment check. Instead, he had all of our various deities appear and take away the magnificent god-gifted weapons from the entire party. Yep....*poof*...our artifact/legacy level weapons were gone. That was how our adventure ended.... That and the final retirement of our original DM from gaming.

So...it's obvious that we were all a bit unsatisfied with that conclusion. Our group's "first-alternate DM" happens to be "D" and in the week following the conclusion, he came up with a continuation-adventure hook. You see, it was a joint idea a year ago between "D" and myself to re-visit our original characters...then our original DM jumped in and took over from there. But "D" came up with a great "postscript" story line in which the deities involved with each of our characters visited the Rogue and "expressed their displeasure." They gave him a good tongue lashing, then presented him (as part of his penance) the various artifacts to be returned in person to the rest of the group. So, we all got back our stuff...except for him. He had to go on a Quest to learn, among other things, patience, wisdom, etc. I played around with the story for a bit, added some color and flavor with the gods' different voices, and then we threw it out for the other guys to approve. Obviously, all the players approved of getting their stuff back.

Then what to do with the Rogue. You see, we all agreed (after hearing the original DMs exposition on who the NPC really was, her situation, background, etc.) that the Rogue had screwed up. He may have acted in character, but it was still a huge boo-boo. Even the Rogue agreed that he should be punished, somehow. Well, as penance, the deities would take away his animal cohort, most of his abilities, equipment, etc. (or rather, force him to leave them behind) and to temporarily reduce his XP to next-to-nothing. This effectively dropped him down to first-level, although he retained most of his skills and attribute levels. As "third-alternate DM" for the group, I then proposed putting him through several modules and adventures -- alone -- and allow him to rebuild his XP back to his 26th level. This would represent his "re-education" and "repentance." It also gave him a chance to restructure his character into a new class: one that we created that better fit his idea of his character.

It hasn't been easy for him. He's confessed to me that every time he leaves the camp or the door to the inn, he feels ready to wet himself. He's alone, remember. Even though he has most of his skills and attributes, he has no feats, no special abilities...nothing beyond second level abilities. He has none of his magic items, except for a bag of holding. He has no special weapons. Indeed, he started out with darts, a dagger, and a sap. He's since picked up a short- and long-swords, as well as a crossbow, but he's been very good at limiting his weapon use. I started him in a 1st-level adventure from Paizo (I'm not going to name names here; I was at first, but I think I won't, so as not to tempt him with metagaming and spoilers.) which, while not easy for him, went quickly. I'm now using a sequel adventure, which has yet another sequel after that. He should go up a couple levels by then.

It's been entertaining to watch. I threw a gelatinous cube at him and watched him panic; I threw some darkmantles at him and he nearly fled the ruins. In the past 12 years of gaming, we've never encountered either. It's amazing what a little lack of knowledge and surprise (and creative description) can do to a player. And to a character. I've come close to killing him a couple of times--really close--but he's pulled through. No fudging on the die rolls, either. It's all been straight up. He's done some unexpected things that have made me stretch myself as a DM and make some on-the-fly rulings. And it's been a lot of fun.

So...I suppose I can open it up to thoughts and suggestions. We, as a group, have never had to punish a character before. Did we do it the right way?

[review] Delve! #1

After much angst and worry on my part, the inaugural issue of Delve! 'zine finally reached my mailbox this past week.

Go ahead, ask John. I really WAS angsting about it.

Anyway, this little packet of loveliness was a joy to dive into. It gave me something to read last weekend. I spent a good amount of time savoring the adventure, the critters, and all the fresh stuff that John Bingham packed inside. All in all, I really enjoyed it.

However, in the interest of an honest review, there were a few things that detracted from the experience for me.

I am, at heart, a reader. I come from a genetically-good speller on one side and a line of English teachers on the other. I was an English major in college. I've worked at times in my early career as a proofreader, editor, and writer for the Chief Justice of a state Supreme Court. Heck, I'll admit it: I'm anal retentive. Especially when it comes to proofreading...just ask Dylan Hartwell or Jez Gordon about that.

The things that detracted from the Delve! experience for me were, probably, little things that others wouldn't notice. For me, it pulled me out of the Delve! world for a moment as the proofreader in my head went "Whoa!" There were some spelling errors, some punctuation errors, and some formatting problems. They didn't really affect the content in any way, except for--as I said--pulling my own proofreader out of the moment.

The content is statted for OSRIC, but I'm sure it's easily converted to any old-school or retro-clone. I've already started doing some conversion for use in my 3.x sandbox game. Even more amazing: all of this was done by one man...the content, the artwork, everything. The content is compelling and the art is amazing. I have no complaints about the content whatsoever.

Overall, I probably would give the 'zine a 3 out of 4 stars (I'd say 4 out of 4, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt for future, greater content!) For myself, it probably rates 2.5 out of 4 just for the formatting and other issues. As I said, that's ONLY for myself, because the issues I found probably wouldn't bother other readers.

In any case I'd still highly recommend picking up a copy: the .pdf is available for $3.99 from RPGNow while the hand-assembled print copy is available from John's blog for $5.00. I'd say splurge and get yourself the hard copy, simply because (1) the quantity is limited and (2) I love holding the 'zine in my hands, knowing how much love, sweat, tears, and work has gone into producing it. I'm just old fashioned that way.

Whichever you choose, GET IT NOW.

OSR Monster Project

Just a heads up to my readers of a new OSR project swiftly reaching its (scheduled) conclusion.

The OSR Monster Project over at Rended Press is scheduled to wrap up on Wednesday, August 1, 2012.

This was originally intended to be a collection of craziness: all the monsters created in June 2012 from the OSR blogosphere, collected in one place and then .pdf'd for general consumption. It was then extended to any monster blog-created in 2012. I came late to the party, so I was glad to see the extension. I took the opportunity to add in the eight critters that have crawled from my brain through my pen in the past eight months.

I'd urge everyone to take the next 24 hours or so to jump on over to the Google Docs site and plug in their own creations. Mine are in 3.x format, but they come from someone in the OSR blood flows. I consider myself part of the OSR, even if no one else does. I use OSR materials and theories in my games and have nothing against previous versions of D&D or clones.
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Re-blogging today's post from Rended Press.
http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/07/status-update-osr-ogl-blogosphere.html

As of today, the OSR OGL BLOGOSPHERE MONSTERS PROJECT has 26 entries.

I'll close the file sometime during the afternoon of August 1.

Remember: This is open to any creature you've posted on your blog at any point in 2012!

So come on, people. Do the cut & paste!

Note: Please only share material that you feel comfortable appearing in a half-assed, crazy, DIY fan compilation.

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The count's increased from 26 this morning to, well, 39 at last count. I wanna see some more, though...monsters are like dice: you can never have too many.

My contributions:
32. Brain Ghoul
33. Howler Snake
34. Iron Hide Zombie
35. Lung Leech Swarm
36. Quickdeath
37. Ragehawk
38. Slimeclaw Wyrm
39. Soul Beetle